Woman Spends $17K On Life-Saving Treatment For 17-Year-Old Cat

posted by RJ Johnson - @rickerthewriter -

A University of Baltimore professor has helped her 17-year-old cat add to its nine lives.

Besty Boyd, a creative writing professor wrote about her decision to spend nearly $20,000 to replace her 18-year-old cat's kidney and people's reactions to how much she'd pay go her little friend.

The cat (who is named after filmmaker Stanley Kubrick), was well worth the money according to Boyd. In the blog post, she writes that she first got Stanley as a kitten when she was only 27-year-old and that he had been there for her through the "worst moments of my life."

When Boyd noticed that the 17-year-old Stanley wasn't as frisky as he used to be, she took him in to see a veterinarian who informed her that Stanley required a kidney transplant. Something the office could do for them for "anywhere from 20 to 25 thousand."

Thank God I didn’t have to decide right then, because not only was I having massive anxiety about breaking into my small savings, more than that I was worried about the fact that Stan would have to take immunosuppressant drugs every 12 hours for the rest of his life if I elected to put him through the surgery — if he survived it. These antirejection drugs could lead to all sorts of problems: weight loss, infections, tumors. But if he lasted six months postsurgery, according to statistics, he’d have a chance at several years of good health. He might live well into his 20s. What were the odds? No one could say. But without intervention, he’d die soon — the only guarantee.

The surgery for Stanley didn't come without sacrifice. The couple decided against buying a new car they had been saving for, and decided to take the cat in.

Boyd writes that the total bill was just under $17,000 and despite a brief bout with an upper respiratory infection, Stanley is thriving.